Vice Chief Fina forcefully initiated a kiss.

Surprised by her sudden action, I couldn’t prevent myself from having my lips stolen. It was a simple peck that lasted an instant, however, the soft sensation of her lips and its ample warmth lingered.

Ember and Fang were frozen solid for a moment before they became enraged for some unknown reason. Ember kept on bumping my right arm in protest while Fang was growling towards Fina who was smiling as she observed our reactions.

“Fu fu, what cute beasts getting jealous of me.”

Saying so, she licked her lips seductively while crossing her arms, emphasizing her voluptuous body. Ember and Fang, seeing her actions, quickly positioned themselves in front as if to block her way. Tension was building in the air.

As a gentleman, I’m not opposed to women going on the offensive. However, for some reason, Fina’s behavior is giving me goosebumps. However, I can’t say to her face that I feel there’s something wrong with her behavior.

“Ember, Fang, stand down. Miss Fina, I probably should say thanks for that small gift.”

The two angry tamed beasts slowly backed off, however, vigilance was visible in their actions.

“You’re welcome. Although I think just a kiss is not sufficient as a prize, what do you think?”

Fina said in a weirdly flirty tone. I honestly don’t know whether she’s serious or just joking right now. .𝙘𝒐𝒎

“I think it’s more than what I deserve already. Then, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way.”

Before she could say anything else, I already stood up and went for the door. Even though I didn’t look back, I could feel three strong gazes on my back.

—

Will quickly left the drawing room, his tamed beasts following shortly behind, and closed the door. His footsteps echoed as he slowly paced away. Fina, who was still standing while staring at the door, sat down with a plop.

“Hmmmm~! Interesting…”

Fina suddenly grinned widely, like a predator finding her prey. For a short instant, her pupils turned pinkish red in color but returned to their usual blue quickly.

“As I’ve thought, he’s not normal. What do you think, Chief?”

When Fina asked, the space behind the sofa where Will sat earlier blurred like a disturbed water’s surface. An instant later, a pink-haired woman wearing revealing clothes appeared. She had small black wings attached to her lower back and a curly horn on both sides of her temple.

“It’s the first time my bloodline got fully activated like this.”

The pink-haired woman that appeared said while looking at her own appearance as if she wasn’t too familiar with it.

“His body possesses a special bloodline, which reacts to ancient monster bloodlines like ours. What’s more, his soul is more than twice as powerful as a normal human’s.”

The pink-haired woman said as she played with her wings and horns.

“The impulse you felt that made you kiss him was your succubus bloodline getting activated too. However, since you only have trace amounts of it unlike mine, your transformation was weak enough to be prevented by willpower alone.”

“I see… So that’s why he looked delicious for an instant back then?”

Fina reminisced what happened earlier and couldn’t hold back a wide grin.

“Anyways, Chief Julia, do you think we can entrust [that] to him?”

Returning to reality, Fina quickly shook her head and asked. Julia, upon hearing her question, shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know for now. We still need to observe him a bit more. Fina, make this your top priority, understand?”

The two of them then stared in the direction where Will went, traces of excitement and hope in their eyes.

—

After leaving the government office, we quickly headed to the inn we stayed at before. There, I quickly booked a room for the night. After ensuring that we have a place to sleep, we quickly left the inn once more and went towards a nearby eatery for dinner.

The two of them enjoyed eating so much that it was already dark when we left the eatery. Luckily, we chose a place close to the inn so it didn’t take long to return. After heading for our room, I locked the door and cleaned out the space in the middle.

“Okay, Ember, time for you to Evolve!”

Hearing my excited words, ember happily jumped and jiggled around.

I quickly retrieved the box containing the high-energy essence crystal. When I opened the box, I could clearly feel the temperature near my hands drop a few degrees. The leaking energy was enough to cool down the surroundings in an instant!

Since cold energy is part of gentle energy, the opposite of my violent energy, holding it makes me feel like my strength is fading. To avoid further implications, I quickly passed the box to Ember.

Ember didn’t think twice and quickly pounced on the box containing the high-energy essence crystal. As soon as she did, she quickly tried to digest the essence crystal.

A cold wave of energy swept the whole room. Ember, who ingested the essence crystal, was slowly freezing over like a piece of ice. After her whole body was covered in ice, a bright flash of light emitted from her core.

The bright light lasted a few seconds before vanishing. When my vision cleared up, Ember was already not the Ember I was used to seeing.

First of all, she became bigger. Before she was just a blob about as big as a yoga ball, now, she was a humanoid with a height reaching my shoulders. Her features as a humanoid weren’t that clear as her body was still made of the same slime material from before, however, her body shape was definitely eye-popping.

“… Eh?”

However, before I could enjoy the sight in front of me, the feedback began. Furthermore, there’s one big problem.

“T-The energy is too strong!!!”

The feedback happened in an instant. In that short instant, the excess energy from Ember’s evolution was fully transferred to me. If we estimate the energy usage, then ember used less than a hundredth of the total energy for her evolution.

In short, the larger majority of the energy ended up rushing into my body. Since energy from the feedback is converted to the energy type most compatible with the tamer, the feedback was wholly composed of violent energy. As soon as it came inside me, it started wreaking havoc as if looking for a path to go out.

*Thud*

I fell to my knees before falling face-down. Blood was rushing out of every part of my body from my eyes, ears, nails, and even my skin. Unlike the peaceful and almost painless feedback from before, this time, the heat and accompanying pain were enough to make anyone faint in agony.

“Master!!!”

Before my consciousness faded, I saw a flustered Ember rushing to my side.